Yahoo News recently carried a story that reports from the proceedings of the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Stockholm, where a recent study was discussed linking in vitro fertilization (IVF) with an increased incidence in Down Syndrome.
The language in the story is a mess, and care must be taken to vet the verbal engineering contained therein so that the true moral and bioethical implications may be brought into sharp relief.
First, a summation of the science involved.
Investigators analyzed the DNA strands (chromosomes) produced by the divisions of human eggs and counted the chromosome numbers using a new technique (Array Comparative Genomic Hybridisation) that is highly sensitive to not only differences in chromosome numbers, but also changes in the size and composition of the chromosomes.
Remainder of article — http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/26/study-links-ivf-to-down-syndrome-other-genetic-conditions/